Attaching PDF To Outlook Gets Corrupted Solution

Letting you know from the beginning that below are only Solutions and NOT A FIX to the dreaded PDF corruption problems with Microsoft Outlook.

Many users who use Windows based PC’s no matter what the operating system is, whether your using Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 have faced a problem with attaching PDF’s into Microsoft Outlook. The current version of Microsoft Outlook that are affected by this problem is Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016.

In the very beginning when you have first installed Outlook, attachments have been working perfectly no matter what file you threw at it. Then all of a sudden, you try to attach a PDF and send it via email to yourself or another email address and find out that the file is either corrupted or can not open.

Alternative Solutions to fixing PDF Outlook Corruption Error

PDF into JPG

1) One way around this problem is converting your PDF(s) into JPG(s). What this does is flatten and create an image of the PDF document pages. A PDF file is full of encoded information that has trouble getting decoded when it reaches the hands of Outlook. Converting into a JPG first then sending will allow the recipient of the email to see the document without a problem.

How to convert your PDF into a JPG you may ask? Their are a few programs you can use. If you own Adobe Acrobat Professional (Not Acrobat Reader), you want to start by opening your PDF document, goto File, then to Save As Other, select image, then choose JPG. This option will convert all of your pages into JPGs which then can be attached all together in one email.

Other image editors such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks, Corel Draw, and IrfanView have the ability to open PDF’s and save them into the JPG image format.

PDF into Archive (Zip or Rar)

2) If you don’t want to go into the trouble of having to convert your PDF files into JPGs or don’t have the money to spend on the Professional version of Acrobat, then another alternative solution is to archive your PDF(s) into a Zip file or a WinRar file. Once you have zipped up your PDF into a archive file, you then will be able to attach that file into an email and send it off to your recipient. The recipient then will be able to download the archive file, extract the contents of the file, then open the PDF in their respective viewer.

How to archive a PDF you may ask? If you are an owner of Windows Vista, 7, or 8 then archiving your PDF file(s) are simple. Simply locate your PDF file, then right click on the icon, a menu will popup, scroll down to the option called Send to, then click on Compressed (Zipped) Folder. This will then archive your PDF into a Zip file.

If you are a user of WinZip or WinRar, you can simply right click on the PDF file and select the option Add to Archive. This will then create a new Rar or Zip file of your PDF Document.

PDF from the Cloud

3) Another easy solution is upload your PDF to one of the available cloud storage solutions. Using either Dropbox, WeTransfer, or Google Drive is very simple. Once you upload your PDF to one of the following services, you then can acquire a Download Link which then can be sent to your recipient via email. Once the recipient receives the email, he or she can simply click on the link and download the PDF to their computer. Those who use Dropbox or Google Drive will have the luxury of viewing the PDF directly from the website or mobile app.

Conclusion

Both Microsoft and Adobe are aware of this problem. Until an actual fix is made to solve this issue, these solutions should be of help to you. If you have any additional questions, sound off below in the comments section. Best of luck to you!

5 Comments

Thank you for the alternate solutions! I have faced a similar issue when we scan an image, that is sent to outlook as a PDF and only the scanned files are getting corrupted when it reaches the receipient mailbox. when we zip it and send to the recipient its working. Do you know why these files get corrupted? and why only the scanned images? could that be an issue with the encoding techniques used by scanner?

Their is no official fix at the moment. Before following the steps listed above (from the article) as a last resort, I would try doing a virus/malware scan to clean your computer. Optimize with CCleaner, update Acrobat and Outlook to the latest version, then testing to see if PDF attachments are still getting corrupted. Hope this helps.

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